The Twisted Path

by Xetarma

When Minerva McGonagall discovers that Harry Potter's relatives intend to keep him from attending Hogwarts, she takes matters into her own hands. But when Harry comes to Diagon Alley one day early, it sets events into motion that end with him and his friend, Hermione Granger, sorted into Slytherin. Now the two of them must somehow tame the House of the Snakes.

53. Plots Within Plots

Content Warning: Character Deaths, Disturbing Imagery/Sexual references

Chapter 53: Plots Within Plots

December 20th, 1997

Narcissa Malfoy moved quietly as she stacked her things inside her bag. It had an undetectable extension charm on it, yet despite that, Narcissa was packing light. No need to draw attention to what she was doing. She just needed to leave, and quietly.

Still, she had one thing left to do. As terrible as things were, she had to say goodbye to Draco. She couldn't just leave him with no explanation. And so she made her way to his bedroom.

As she made her way through the house, she noted the movement of the Death Eaters who were there. Today was the day they made their move. It was also the day the Wizengamot was meeting to discuss Harry Potter. Those two things were not coincidental. However, it did provide a distraction for Narcissa. No one would be paying any attention to her today.

Draco was sitting at his desk when Narcissa entered his room. He was reading something, Narcissa couldn't see what. He stood when she entered, whether as a sign of respect or to hide what he'd been reading she couldn't say. It didn't matter. There was no way that Draco could disappoint her more than what he had done to Pansy.

"So you are assigned to one of the groups today," said Narcissa, trying not to sound upset.

"I am," said Draco, "But I will be guarding our retreat. Not an important role."

"It is a very important role," said Narcissa, "The last time we sent people into the Ministry in force… well we remember what happened."

Draco's eyes went hard. "Yes we do," he said angrily.

"I am leaving," said Narcissa, "I will be gone soon, likely before you leave. I only stayed for your benefit, but now that you are of age… well you've made your choices. Obviously, I am leaving you almost everything. The house, what is left of the money. I only have enough to last me a few weeks, but it will be enough. I have a few old friends who will put me up for a while. But I can no longer stay here, where everything reminds me of what I have lost."

Draco seemed floored by this admission. "I see," he said his voice stunned.

"I do love you, dear," said Narcissa, "but I cannot stay here any longer."

Draco nodded. And Narcissa decided not to string this out any longer. She headed back to her room. She still had to finish packing.

XXXXX

Kingsley Shacklebolt led the contingent of Aurors assigned to Hogsmeade Station. Today was the day that the students from Hogwarts were scheduled to take the train back to London. Scrimgoeur had believed that the students would not show up, but Amelia knew better. Kingsley was one of the few Aurors to know that Amelia was working directly with Potter. Of course now that Harry was on speaking terms with Dumbledore again, it was very likely that the reformed Order of the Phoenix would begin cooperating with her as well.

Sure enough, right on schedule the carriages arrived from Hogwarts, pulled by Thestrals. This would be a bitter blow to Fudge's proceedings today. Certainly, Kingsley knew that some of the students hadn't come back, including most of the seventh year students. But Kingsley wasn't here to babysit 'of age' witches and wizards. Those who had not arrived were of course part of Potters army.

Kingsley had his orders. Time to get everyone loaded, then head back to the Ministry. Today was going to be an interesting day.

XXXXX

Amelia smiled as Kingsley's Lynx Patronus faded away. She hadn't been in doubt of what would happen today. Harry had said that the students of Hogwarts would take the Hogwarts Express back home. This would cripple any attempt by Fudge to use the evacuation of Hogwarts against Harry.

Amelia forwarded this information on in two separate memos to Dumbledore and Bryant Greengrass. She didn't see fit to inform Fudge though. Let him look like a fool in front of the Wizengamot!

XXXXX

Narcissa strode out of her bedroom decisively. She had her enchanted bag over her shoulder. It was now or never. In mere minutes the Wizengamot meeting would begin and all the other Senior Death Eaters would be gathered waiting for confirmation that the plan was on. So right now Narcissa had a window, one she was not going to miss.

Since everyone on patrol now would be junior to her, she would have the authority to tell anyone she met to mind their own business. Even at the edge of the estate she believed she could credibly state that she was on some assignment. But she cursed the fact that she had placed the anti-apparition wards on the property. It had made her escape more complicated.

What was more inconvenient was the fact that when she reached the doors she found them being guarded by men who were checking for passes. That was odd. By luck she arrived behind another person who had no idea what was going on, so she'd heard the explanation with no need to incriminate herself.

This was trouble. Narcissa knew that the Dark Lord was nothing if not thorough, so there was no use trying a different door. She could jump out a window, but that would probably attract unwanted attention. That left one option, the secret tunnel. She was hesitant to use it, especially given that getting out was considerably harder than she had anticipated. Maybe she should wait for a better opportunity. But no, she had said her goodbyes. The time was now.

Narcissa had never used the tunnel, but she knew it existed. She made her way back into the heart of the Manor, using the old servant passages to avoid being seen. Even then she nearly ran into the Carrows. But she made it to the kitchens undetected, and quickly descended into the wine cellar.

In the very back of the wine cellar, Narcissa came to a wall. Placing her wand on the wall, she waited for five seconds. The wall opened for her. It wouldn't work for anyone who was not a member of the Malfoy family. She cast a quick Lumos charm and headed in.

A short tunnel led to a guardroom. Two halls branched out from here. Down one hall was a line of four prison cells, the original purpose of this place. Narcissa didn't know why the medieval Malfoys needed a prison, but at some point they had. The other hall was more recent. It had been cut as an escape tunnel.

The tunnel was longer than Narcisaa had expected. But that made sense. It would have to lead outside the wards, and there was a large hill behind the Malfoy estate. By necessity, the entire hill was inside the wards. Otherwise, it would be a perfect place to attack the Manor from. In fact the original castle had been built on top of the hill, but that was destroyed in the English Civil War, and with the advent of the Statue of Secrecy, the Malfoys had built their new Manor in the less conspicuous valley below. That being said, only the exterior wards extended over the hill. A determined enemy could still fly or walk people to the top of the hill if they really wanted to attack Malfoy Manor

She finally came to the end, a cleverly disguised stone door from the outside. It led to a secluded ravine on the other side of the hill. She grabbed the handle for the door and pushed as she extinguished her Lumos charm. The door swung open.

And Narcissa found herself looking into the eyes of the Dark Lord.

With a single wave of his wand, Narcissa was against the wall of the ravine. The Dark Lord was not alone. Snape and Rookwood were there, as well as…

"You did well, Draco," said the Dark Lord approvingly, "I will admit that I did not believe you. But you have truly shown me that your loyalty to me is absolute. I commend you."

"Thank you, my Lord," said Draco, his eyes burning with what Narcissa could only call madness.

"And you Narcissa!" said the Dark Lord, turning back to her, his eyes baleful, "I am very disappointed in you. Yet I must shoulder some of the blame. I knew you had delicate sensibilities, and that you would likely not be able to stomach what would be necessary for victory! I promoted you against the advice of many other advisors. And your son has done me a service. You may yet be of some use to me. So I will not kill you."

Narcissa breathed a sigh of relief.

"But I'm afraid that the rest of your life is going to be very unpleasant," said Voldemort, "Beyond your wildest imaginings. I don't have time to show you what I have in mind properly though, so this will have to suffice for now. Crucio!"

Narcissa screamed in agony as the cruciatus curse wracked her body. But truly, that was nothing compared to the knowledge that her son had betrayed her.

XXXXX

Bryant Greengrass made his way into the courtroom where the Wizengamot was meeting, his hands clutching his notes. He probably wouldn't need them, but it never hurt to be sure. Fudge was about to step on his own dick today though, so Bryant wasn't exactly worried.

Bryant was more annoyed that Harry had forced him into this position than anything. He wanted to finally break this alliance between himself and Potter, but as long as Daphne and Astoria were among Harry's allies and Fudge was Minister he couldn't. Once Fudge was gone and replaced with someone less hostile to Harry Bryant could return to his natural politics. The life debt his daughter owed Potter was quite inconvenient. Otherwise he'd just have cut a deal to turn on Potter in exchange for clemency for his daughters.

Potter had been smart enough to not show up today. If he had, Fudge would have filled him full of who knows how many potions. In fact, Bryant had to admit that Harry had handled himself well. Indeed, he liked the boy. It was a shame he was on the wrong side of the pureblood supremacy divide.

Fudge entered the Chamber with Umbridge and Percy in tow. Bryant had decided he'd keep that secret, regardless of anything else. Technically, no one had told him that Percy Weasley was Harry Potter's spy in the Minister's office, but it was pretty obvious. Bryant had nothing against Percy. And Bryant actually respected the way Percy had toed the line all this time. No, he wouldn't give up Percy's true loyalty, even if it might have benefited him slightly.

Fudge seemed put out by something. Bryant suspected he'd been waiting for a report on Hogwarts from Amelia. That was one thing he was never going to get. The moment he'd refused to even submit his warrant for Potter's arrest to Amelia was the moment she'd turned against him. No, Amelia just wasn't talking to Fudge, and Fudge resented it. He was going to resent it more in a moment, but that wasn't going to mean much for long.

Fudge quickly called the meeting to order and everyone found their seats. Fudge settled into that self satisfied smirk. Oh, how Bryant hated it.

"I have called you all together today to deal with an urgent issue," said Fudge, "I have had an arrest warrant issued for Harry Potter. We have evidence that he is planning to overthrow the Ministry and may have committed murder. This has grown more serious as he has apparently abducted the rest of the students of Hogwarts."

A murmur went through the chamber. Most of the people here probably had heard that the students of Hogwarts had boarded the train. Fudge had just shown himself to be dangerously out of the loop.

"What abduction?" demanded Bryant as he stood.

"This so-called evacuation was really just a cover for Potter to abduct the entire school-age population of Britain," said Fudge, "Look at the proof. Have the children been returned yet?"

"Yes, they have," said Bryant with a vicious smile, "They are on the Hogwarts Express now, aside from a handful of students who volunteered to stay at the school and help fix the wards."

Fudge seemed taken aback at this. He shot Amelia a dirty look, but Amelia pretended she didn't see it. No one was going to sympathize with Fudge over this, not after he'd kept Amelia out of the loop on Potter.

"And why do they need help at Hogwarts?" asked Bryant angrily, "They need help to restore the wards which were brought down by your Aurors, while they were executing an illegal arrest on Harry Potter. And they failed, I might add. This is just one incompetence after another!"

Fudge whirled to face Dumbledore. His face was angry. But Dumbledore just shook his head. And with that, Fudge realized that his gambit had failed.

"I move that we officially defer to the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as to the status of the arrest warrant for Mr. Potter," said Bryant.

Dumbledore called the vote, and Fudge didn't even object. It passed overwhelmingly.

"I further move that the Wizengamot go into recess until tomorrow," said Bryant, "All the various factions need to consult with each other, in light of what Minister Fudge has done, and decide whether Minister Fudge needs to be removed or not."

Again, the vote was overwhelming. Even the Death Eaters like Nott were against Fudge. Which meant Fudge was toast. Bryant grinned. He'd have to meet with the purebloods now. Maybe they'd find someone better than Amelia. But the first step towards being free of Fudge had been taken.

If only Bryant was free to handle things as he wished.

XXXXX

One moment Malfoy Manor had been absolutely full of Death Eaters and mercenaries that Clarise Zabini had brought in to bolster their numbers, and the next moment Nott had found himself practically alone. Something was definitely up today. Nott wanted to warn Harry that something was up, but he had to admit that he didn't know how. He didn't trust the floo and he didn't know how to summon a patronus. Stupid oversight on his part. He could send an owl, but that would take too much time. No, he could only hope Harry knew what was going on.

Still, Nott was concerned. He had heard a rumor that something was wrong with Narcissa Malfoy, but he didn't have much to go on. One person had suggested that she had tried to run away. Nott wasn't sure he believed that. Still it was true that he couldn't find her anywhere. He considered this for a moment. Something was up, but he wasn't sure he should get involved.

In the end, his decency won out over his good sense. He had to know, and finding out might give him some useful intel on Voldemort. But where was Narcissa? The only places she might be that he hadn't checked were her bedchamber and the bedchamber assigned to Voldemort.

And she wasn't in her own bedchamber. That room had been ransacked quite thoroughly. That gave credence to the idea that Narcissa had been caught doing something she shouldn't have. It was almost enough to make Nott back off. Almost.

Still, Nott wasn't exactly eager to break into Voldemort's bedchamber. If he was caught, it would be the end of him. Still, the main group left in the Manor was a guard led by the Carrows, and they were manning the perimeter. Nott wondered if the Dark Lord might actually be arrogant enough to believe that no one would dare try and enter his bedchamber.

Yet when he reached the door to the room, he was still surprised that it actually was unguarded. Worried even more, Nott turned the knob on the door and opened it. He quickly ducked into the room so no one would see him. But he was unprepared for what he found.

The room was a fairly well appointed room, though it wasn't incredibly large. But it had one glaring oddity. And that oddity was a completely naked Narcissa Malfoy, suspended by her tied hands from the ceiling. Her eyes were closed. Every so often, one of her muscles would twitch, a remnant of extreme cruciatus exposure. But apparently the Dark Lord had grown bored with the cruciatus, and there were large welts all over her body.

"Mrs. Malfoy!" Nott almost cried out, horrified.

Narcissa opened her eyes. "What are you doing here?" she demanded weakly.

"I heard you were in trouble, so I was trying to find you!" said Nott, "Are you all right? He didn't… I mean…"

Nott's ears went red as he stumbled over his questions. How did you ask the naked mother of a former friend whether she'd been sexually assaulted?

"Do I look fine?" asked Narcissa sarcastically before she shook her head firmly.

"I'm sorry, you don't deserve that," said Narcissa more kindly, "He has hurt me, but he didn't… do... anything. He is too good at torture to make that mistake."

"Mistake?" asked Nott, unable to process what Narcissa was saying.

"No offense Theo, but I am pretty sure that this is a conversation you don't want to have with me," said Narcissa dryly, "suffice to say different types of torture work better or worse on different people. He wants me degraded, but in a way where I am treated like I ak utterly unimportant."

Nott gulped as he understood her meaning. He hadn't meant to go to such a personal place. It was at that point that he realized he'd been staring at Narcissa's nude form this entire time. He forced himself to close his eyes. He heard what almost sounded like a laugh come from Narcissa.

"We need to get you out of here!" said Nott.

"Don't be silly," said Narcissa, "it's far too dangerous for you to try to rescue me. Even if you could get me out of here, we'd just be fugitives! Where could we go?"

"Potter would protect us," said Nott with certainty.

Narcissa sighed. "I've no doubt he'd try. But then you would be of no use to him as a spy, would you?"

Nott's eyes opened in shock. "You know?" he demanded.

Narcissa laughed. "I didn't, but I do now. Still it's the only thing that makes sense, you being here."

"I can't just leave you here!" protested Nott looking Narcissa right in the eyes.

Suddenly Narcissa's eyes went soft. "Oh, you poor boy," she said sadly, "I know you blame yourself for what happened to Pansy. But I am here because of choices I made. And I will not be responsible for your destruction. Here is what is going to happen. I will tell you all of the Dark Lord's plans that I was privy to. Then you will leave, and say nothing of this. If the Dark Lord ever asks you why you broke into his room, you will tell him that you broke in to gawk at me naked. He won't kill you for that, he might even be amused by it. But you must do exactly what I say!"

Nott looked at Narcissa helplessly. Finally he nodded. What else could he do?

XXXXX

Narcissa watched as Nott closed the door behind him. She'd given him as much information on the Dark Lord's plans as she could. She hoped Potter could make use of it. It was her only real hope.

She shook her head thinking of the way Nott had initially been staring at her. She had to remind herself that he was only seventeen. He was still very inexperienced, and it was only natural that he'd stared at her. And he had managed to be embarrassed at what he'd done, once he'd noticed.

Still, she was impressed by his resolve. And she realized that she had been forced to pick a side. And in her position, there was really only one side to take. So she would bide her time, and look to give the Dark Lord advice that would take him down.

XXXXX

There really wasn't anything Fudge could do. Percy didn't really want to upset the man more than he already was, but that was the truth. Politically, he was done. And that was that.

"It was Dolores," said Fudge quietly.

"Hmm?" asked Percy.

"Dolores betrayed me," said Fudge, "She knew this would backfire on me. This was her revenge."

"I suppose that could be true," said Percy, trying to sound dubious, "though she was always a better bureaucrat than a politician."

"True," admitted Fudge, "but she said Dumbledore was on her side. Either she trusted Dumbledore with no assurances and he was lying…"

"Doesn't sound like her," agreed Percy.

"Or she always intended for this to fail," finished Fudge.

"She knew you were angry at Potter after he chewed you out in Diagon Alley," noted Percy, "and let's be honest. You don't react well when you get surprised. She may have used that."

"That is true," said Fudge, "and she's always pushed me towards goals she supports. I'll give you this much credit, you may have been Potter's spy in my office, but you always gave me good advice."

"What? I'm not…" started Percy, but Fudge just raised one hand.

"Of course you're a spy," said Fudge, "your sister is one of his best friends, and rumour has it a fellow member of the Triumvirate. And you do care what your family thinks of you, despite your protestations. I've known you were a spy since June, at least. But I don't hold it against you."

"You don't?" asked Percy nervously.

"It's just politics, and as I said, you always gave me good advice," said Fudge, "You kept trying to keep me on Potter's good side. If I had listened to you I would still have a healthy political career."

Percy didn't know what to say to that.

"But I don't," said Fudge, "I'm done. Even now the various factions in the Wizengamot are plotting who will replace me. Well, I'm not needed for that. I'm headed home."

"Very well sir," said Percy, "Anything you need me to do?"

"Deliver this to Amelia Bones," said Fudge, pulling out a rolled up piece of paper, "It is an apology of sorts, and it may help her out in the coming days if the appointment of a new Minister for Magic goes sour."

"I will take it immediately," said Percy, taking the paper

"Good man," said Fudge.

Percy turned around and marched out of Fudge's office. It was a strange feeling. He'd come to have very complicated feelings about Fudge as Minister. This made things worse.

He walked into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Things were all slightly abuzz here. Amelia still had things on some sort of alert.

"I have a letter from the Minister for Madam Bones," said Percy as he approached Bones' secretary. He was quickly ushered in.

"Is he resigning?" asked Bones.

"Probably not," said Percy, "he isn't going to fight things though. He wanted me to give you this."

He handed Amelia the letter. Amelia snorted as she read it.

"He just gave me full hiring and firing power over the DMLE, including sub-department heads," said Amelia with a wry grin, "Scrimgoeur's gone, I can tell you that right now. I guess this is Fudge's way of apologizing to me."

"That's what he said," started Percy as something in his pocket started to vibrate violently. Initially, Percy was confused. Then he realized that it was the device that monitored Minister Fudge's emergency beacon. The same one that Percy had given him. And then suddenly the device stopped. But if Fudge had simply stopped grabbing it, it would have faded out, not just cut off. Which meant…

"The Minister for Magic just sent me a message," said Percy, "But it cut off. Which would only happen if he died while trying to contact me."

"Wait, so are you saying Fudge just died?" demanded Amelia, "Where was he?"

"Home, I'd guess," said Percy.

Amelia stood up. "His floo has unrestricted access to most of the Ministry."

"Wait, that means…" began Percy.

Amelia put her wand to her neck. "Attention to the staff and visitors of the Ministry of Magic. We have a security breach. We ask everyone to step away from any unsecured floo, and shelter in a room without an unsecured floo. All security personnel report to your emergency positions."

"It means they can attack virtually any public area and a good number of the private areas in the Ministry," said Amelia as she pulled the wand from her neck.

Percy was suddenly very concerned about what was coming.

XXXXX

Harry wasn't taking any chances. He'd had the entire Army standing ready all day. And even though the Wizengamot meeting had ended, Harry wasn't yet ready to stand down. And Hermione and Ginny agreed with him.

Ernie, however, did not.

"When are we going to be standing down?" he asked anxiously.

"When I say so," said Harry shortly.

"Harry's right, mate," said Ron, "We don't know exactly what Voldemort is planning, so we don't know when would be best for him to attack."

Harry noticed that Ron had started using Riddle's adopted name. He'd actually been doing it for some time. It made sense. Harry had embarrassed him enough times that he'd lost a lot of his ability to terrify Harry's people.

Which wasn't necessarily a good thing, Harry realized. Tom Riddle was an incredibly dangerous man. His Army did not need to get casual about facing him.

"Come on, it isn't happening," said Ernie.

"We don't know that," said Hermione.

"Once we start making assumptions about what will definitely and definitely not happen, we are just opening ourselves up to attack," said Ginny.

"But it's been over four hours…" started Ernie but at that moment a glowing weasel hopped into the room. Both Ginny and Ron leapt to their feet in excitement and disbelief.

"No way!" said Ginny, "It can't be!"

"What is it?" asked Hermione.

"Dad's Patronus was a Weasel," said Ron.

The Patronus stipped in front of Harry. Percy's voice came out, to Ron and Ginny's disappointment.

"Fudge is dead, and the Death Eaters are about to attack the Ministry," said Percy's Patronus, "We need you."

Harry picked up his mask. "We're on our way," he said.

XXXXX

Rookwood leapt out of the floo into the empty office. It was an out of the way, unused room in the back of the Wizengamot office area. Several other Death Eaters had leapt out and more followed Rookwood. The next person through was in fact Snape.

Rookwood scowled. He didn't trust these foreign mercenaries, but with manpower so low they'd had no choice but to use them. There were too few actual Death Eaters here today.

"Are you sure Draco is up to his job?" asked Rookwood.

"He'll keep the door open," assured Snape, "We have to move quickly. The Ministry seems to be on the alert."

Rookwood had noticed that as well. Probably Fudge had some hidden way to get a message out. It didn't matter. No one was going to figure out where they were hitting today, not before it was too late.

XXXXX

Cedric and Kingsley were both trying very hard to remain quiet. As they'd been making their way to the main office of the DMLE, they'd nearly run straight into the Death Eater attackers. They'd managed to disillusion themselves, and had hidden themselves in a nearby office.

Cedric had to admit, he didn't feel very capable of taking on a Death Eater right now. He was just an intern. Still, he was capable of defending himself, and he would do so if attacked.

"What the hell are the Death Eaters doing back here?" wondered Kingsley quietly.

"We're not that far from the DMLE," said Cedric.

"But this is a bad direction to attack it from," argued Kingsley, "The problem is that there is only one approach to the DMLE from here, unless you take the stairs to another floor I suppose."

"They could be trying to take one of the staircases down I suppose, that would mean having only one access point up here would be ideal," said Cedric.

"Yeah, it does make more sense if they're trying to keep us out," said Kingsley, "And the back staircase makes sense. There's nothing else back here except…"

Both men looked at each other at the same moment as they realized what was happening.

"The Wizengamot Offices!" they both shouted as they rushed out the door, now heedless of the danger. Kingsley began to pursue the Death Eaters, while Cedric headed for help.

Cedric ran towards the access to the DMLE. Luckily, there was no one guarding it, just a hastily erected barrier of magic. He quickly blew that apart and ran forward, only to run into Percy and Amelia Bones leading the rest of the Aurors.

"They're after the Wizengamot!" screamed Cedric.

Amelia's eyes went wide and she began to run, as did everyone else. They pushed forward, but didn't run into any resistance. They quickly reached Kingsley, who had taken down a Death Eater. Or what was dressed as a Death Eater, but was clearly a foreign ruffian, complete with gang tattoos in Cyrillic.

Cedric followed Amelia, who marched right up to the room that the Progressive members of the Wizengamot had been meeting in. The door was open. And as Cedric looked in he saw bodies. He could identify the mangled remains of MacMillan, Elphias Doge, Griselda Marchbanks, and others. He heard a moan, only to see a battered Augusta Longbottom reaching for help. And there were others. So many others.

"FUCK!" screamed Amelia as she slammed her fist into the wall.

"They won't stay on this level," said Percy.

Cedric was puzzled. "There are other Wizengamot members to kill," objected Cedric.

"They don't care," said Percy sadly, "They killed everyone they needed to right here."

Cedric's eyes widened as he realized Percy was right.

"Amelia, stay behind," said Percy.

"Like hell I will!" roared Amelia.

"Their goal must be to decapitate the ministry," said Percy, "You are the only person alive who has the authority to resist whatever is about to happen next. You must remain alive no matter what."

Amelia glared daggers at Percy, but nodded. "Kingsley, lead the rest to the stairs. They'll be headed for the Department of Mysteries. They need something there. Hopefully you'll get some help down there."

"Right," said Kingsley.

"Cedric, help me with Augusta!" shouted Amelia as the Aurors began to leave, "Percy, get to Floo Control and shut down the floos. We are getting the bastards who did this."

Cedric ran over to start helping the long, arduous task of keeping Augusta Longbottom alive.

XXXXX

Rookwood led the men through the staircase. Going all the way to the Department of Mysteries was a bit of a trip. But as far as the Dark Lord was concerned, this was the most important part of the battle. They had to get this book which told them how to stabilize the Dark Lord. They had to! The Dark Lord was very specific, Rookwood would get this book or die trying.

But when he reached the level he was forced to duck by a hail of spells. One of his men wasn't so lucky and took a cutter to the face. People in masks and robes were defending the Department of Mysteries! It was the Army of the Triumvirate!

"We must fall back to the last level before the DMLE cuts us off and we get trapped in this staircase," said Snape.

"I have to get the book," said Rookwood, "He'll kill me otherwise. Attack!" And Rookwood charged out.

Alone.

Not a single one of the foreigners came after him. And as the spells hit him, Rookwood thought he heard Snape growling, "Damn you, Rookwood!"

XXXXX

Percy made his way into the Floo office. "Shut down the outgoing Floo!" he roared.

The Floo department witches and wizards all looked at each other and nodded. Quickly casting spells at the huge fireplaces that controlled the Floo Network.

"We can't," said one of the witches suddenly.

"Why not?" asked Percy.

"Because there is currently an open Floo connection to the outside," said the witch, "Until it closes we can't do anything."

"Where is it open to?" asked Percy, but he was sure he knew the answer.

XXXXX

Draco Malfoy stood in Fudge's mansion, his wand pointed at the fireplace. As long as he held this spell, the floo would remain open. But he hoped they hurried. This was very simple, but very tiring.

Moments later men began jumping through the floo, led by Snape, who was carrying a badly injured Rookwood. He'd been hit by multiple cutting charms.

"Well done Draco," said Snape, "The mission went a bit badly at the end, but other than that, everything went smoothly."

Draco grinned. They'd just taught the Blood Traitors a lesson they'd never get over.

XXXXX

Harry looked out over the devastation in the Wizengamot offices. Ernie was weeping next to the body of his grandfather, while other members of the Triumvirate were standing guard. Aside from Amelia, only Cedric, Percy and Kingsley were there of the Ministry personnel.

"This… this was a blow," said Harry numbly.

"You couldn't have predicted this Harry," said Hermione, "Everything pointed to you being the real target of Voldemort's plan."

"I know," said Harry, "It's still devastating."

"What happens now?" aked Ginny.

"The Wizengamot will have to meet," said Amelia, "Luckily, once the Wizengamot goes back into session the Chief Warlock will be able to start the process of choosing new members almost immediately. The remaining Wizengamot members will appoint a temporary Minister, and we'll try to recover from this outrage."

"That's not what will happen," said Percy.

Everyone looked at him.

"This was Umbridge's plan all along," said Percy, "Kill the Minister, kill the Progressives, then what, wait for the Wizengamot to make Amelia Minister? No. She has a plan."

"You think Umbridge is working for the Death Eaters?" asked Harry, though he privately suspected as much.

"We have no way to know that," said Hermione.

Harry shook his head. He really didn't know what to do here.

XXXXX

Bryant was in shock. How long had he worked with all those people? And now they were dead. It disturbed him. It wasn't Amelia's fault though. Fudge had gotten lazy with his own personal security. It was the only thing that made sense.

He sighed. And now they'd have to fix this mess. The Wizengamot had a long road ahead of them.

There was a knock on his office door.

"Come in," said Bryant. To his surprise, Dolores Umbridge walked in.

"A tragic day," said Dolores, "A truly tragic day."

"Yes," said Bryant sadly.

"Still we must move on with a new Minister," said Dolores, "An acting Minister must be appointed."

"Amelia will finally get to be Minister I guess," said Bryant.

"Why her?" asked Umbridge, "It could be you."

"Not likely," said Bryant, "we'll have to recruit more Wizengamot members before we can get a permanent Acting Minister. Dumbledore will only allow us to appoint a temporary one."

Umbridge grinned, "And so the Progressives will emerge out of this more powerful than ever."

"That's the way it goes," said Bryant.

"Of course, the Wizengamot doesn't even have to be in session to appoint a temporary Interim Minister," said Umbridge.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Bryant.

"As the most senior member of Fudge's government, if the Wizengamot doesn't meet, I could fill in for him until it does meet," said Umbridge, "And then we can take control. I have an idea."

"What sort of idea?" asked Bryant.

"A plan to make sure that proper purebloods continue to run the Wizengamot," said Umbridge, "A plan that will make you Minister for Magic."

Bryant's mind initially rebelled against the idea. But suddenly he realized that this was his chance! This was his chance to escape from the heel of Potter.

"If you agree to not move against my daughters or hurt Potter, I might be able to support it," said Bryant.

Umbridge smiled. "Oh, I won't lay a finger on Potter," said Umbridge. Somehow that made Bryant uneasy. But not uneasy enough to not go through with this.

XXXXX

December 21st, 1997

The news that Umbridge had claimed the title of Minister, and the Wizengamot had dismissed itself, effectively legitimizing her, hit Harry and the Army of the Triumvirate like a sack of bricks.

"What is your father doing?" Harry demanded.

"Don't blame Daphne for what her father did," said Tracey, "He's betrayed her as much as he's betrayed us."

"I wasn't blaming Daphne," said Harry, "But we need to know what Bryant Greengrass is thinking right now."

"He's thinking he found a way to put the purebloods back on top, that's what he's thinking," said Astoria.

Things got worse the next day when Harry got a letter from Nott. Reading it, he called the Army together again.

"Theodore Nott just sent me this letter," said Harry, "It confirms our worst fears. Dolores Umbridge is working for Tom Riddle. Lord Voldemort controls the Minister for Magic."

Author's Note: And so the true plot was revealed - to eliminate all opposition on the Wizengamot and give control of the Ministry to Umbridge. However Umbridge's plan wasn't 100% effective. Umbridge actually probably intended Dumbledore to go down with Fudge, and his last minute rescue spared him that. She also intended to have full control over the DMLE, but Fudge was just aware enough to give Amelia free reign. So the DMLE is at least partially free of Umbridge. Still, this is a huge defeat for Harry, and a sign that Voldemort has begun to adapt his strategies to take into account that the Triumvirate knows how he thinks. Of course Voldemort doesn't know that Nott has all of Voldemort's plans.

So I have been getting a lot of reviews commenting on how short most of the horcrux destruction scenes are. I want to address this because it is an area that I think is really about the way I designed this story and has impacted the way I will be writing future stories. So the reason none of the horcrux destruction scenes have epic mind battles with horcruxes is simple: I didn't want to have to write seven separate mind battles. Or rather, I didn't have enough ideas for seven separate mind battles. So yes, the scenes are a bit disappointing. That being said, I learned my lesson here. I just wrote what I think is a very good chapter of Harriet Potter that has Harriet mentally confronting a horcrux and the result is frankly far better than I had hoped. I sort of want to publish it right now, but I have a whole other part to publish before I even get to that part.

There is a lot of feedback on this story it may seem like I am dismissing or not engaging with, but I have been considering how to use it to make future stories better. Because I started posting The Twisted Path after I had finished writing it, I haven't really been able to change much about the overall story. Twisted Path is absolutely a story that bends over backwards to maintain the essential morality of the original Harry Potter books, sometimes to it's own detriment. The big addition is my tendency to focus on mental health issues.

Anyway, from here on out we are building towards the climax of the story. Only three more chapters until the battle of Hogwarts and six more chapters total (seven if you count the epilogue).

Next Time: Harry Potter responds to Umbridge's takeover by preparing to take an action he would previously have seen as unthinkable, while Umbridge tries to solidify her position at the Ministry. Also the girls of Slytherin give Harry a hard time, one last time.